The massive juggernaut of gaming that is the Halo trilogy has a strategy game prequel coming out this year, and while there hasn't been much news about it since last summer's E3, the developers have quietly been putting up new concept art over the past few months. This newest piece shows what seems to be a mass exodus from one of the human colonies before all hell breaks loose. We've got even more concept art that fills in the Halo backstory.

Halo Wars takes place before the first game in the series, Halo: Combat Evolved, when the war with the alien Covenant was just beginning to break out. Set in the year 2531, the United Nations Space Command has colonies spread throughout the galaxy, turning previously barren planets into thriving communities. However, once the war breaks out people start fleeing in terror from the onslaught of the Covenant. Artist Jason Merck from Ensemble Studios makes it clear in this concept art of a group of people with bags packed and sporting warning signs in the background that it might be high time for a change of scenery. Either they've just arrived, are waiting on some sort of a hovertrain to take them away, or maybe they're watching a battle unfold in the sky.

Sadly, by the beginning of the gaming series 21 year later, most of these colonies have been lost, which means these poor painted people probably didn't survive. Check out more concept art from this upcoming game in the gallery and keep your bags packed for a quick exit.